By: Davis Ramage and Jack Haslett
The Long Beach State Dirtbags and the Omaha Mavericks faced off in a three-game weekend series on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field that resulted in three wins, (13-10, 6-0, 4-1,) where they showed that they could win with pitching or with their bats.
Friday night’s 13-10 offensive explosion was capped off with an extra-inning walk-off three-run homerun by the Dirtbags’ junior designated hitter Cole Santander with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Junior right fielder Kyle Ashworth led the way offensively for Long Beach as he knocked in a season-high four RBIs, three of which came from his first triple of the year in the third inning.
Ashworth and the Dirtbags went on an offensive onslaught in the first four innings of the game scoring 10 runs with three extra-base hits.
Despite Long Beach seemingly running away with it, Omaha began crawling back up the scoreboard in the fifth and finally tying the game at 10 runs apiece in the ninth inning.
Defensive errors allowed Omaha back into the game as Omaha’s first two runs of the game were both unearned as the lead-off runner reached on a Long Beach State throwing error.
Thanks to their offensive versatility with displays of power and small ball, The Dirtbags were able to will themselves to a tough win on Friday night.
After allowing 10 runs on Friday, The Dirtbags played a much cleaner game on Saturday that was headlined by the gem of a pitching performance thrown by sophomore Myles Patton in a 6-0 Dirtbag win.
Patton lived up to his nickname, “The General,” as he went six strong innings only giving up four hits and recording seven strikeouts.
Sophomore third baseman Ty Borgogno and junior center fielder Alex Champagne lead the way offensively each recording two-run singles.
The Dirtbags had a productive day on the base paths with five stolen bases, two of which came from junior first baseman Jack Hammond.
After Patton’s night was done, it was up to the Dirtbag bullpen to seal the game, and they did just that.
Freshman lefty Nick Williams was the first pitcher out of the bullpen and he would get into some trouble after giving up a hit and a walk. Still, junior sparkplug Alexander Mihalakis came to his rescue striking out both batters he faced and getting the Dirtbags out of trouble.
The eighth and ninth innings belonged to junior Jonathan Largaespada who only allowed two baserunners in his two innings of work before he secured game two of the series for the Dirtbags.
Sunday’s 4-1 Dirtbag win completed the series sweep and would follow the script of Saturday’s game, again being highlighted by a Dirtbag sophomore starting pitcher, this time Kellan Montgomery.
Montgomery went seven innings with seven strikeouts and four hits allowed while walking zero batters and allowing one unearned run. His lights-out performance lowered his ERA to 0.75 on the season.
Junior Grant Cherry was the first and only pitcher needed out of the bullpen for the Dirtbags as he recorded a six-out save while striking out three batters and only allowing one hit.
Santander and Ashworth wrapped up their successful series by both going 2-4 with an RBI at the plate. They both recorded four hits over the three games during the weekend.
Santander’s tear to start the season has resulted in a .346 average with 10 RBIs.
Santander and the undefeated Dirtbags face off against the UCLA Bruins on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Los Angeles.